Aguila Blanca
Staff
Pennsylvania is another example of a registration that isn't a registration.44 AMP said:Now, some states DO have a system, and it IS registration, so they can tell an investigator something, but the system is limited to those guns, and people IN it.
New York state (for example) has a pistol permit system that tracks INDIVIDUAL guns, by make, caliber, barrel length and serial number.
An investigator can go to the state of NY and say, "tell me what pistols Joe Sixpack (SSN) owns, and the state can tell him. They can't tell him squat about rifles or shotguns, only pistols, because of the pistol permit system they use.
PA state law prohibits the establishment of a firearms registry. Nonetheless, the PA state police have created a system under which FFLs must report sales of handguns, and those reports are entered into a database. The PAFOA forum periodically carries reports of people who are stopped for a traffic violation, the cop runs the serial number of their lawfully owned firearm, and confiscates it as "stolen" because it's not in the database.
But the courts have ruled that the state police database is NOT an unlawful registry because it is not a complete tabulation. There was and is no requirement to "register" firearms owned prior to the creation of the database. There is no requirement to "register" antique firearms acquired through the C&R process. There is no requirement for anyone relocating into Pennsylvania from another state with firearms to "register" his firearms upon taking up residency in Pennsylvania.
So the police regard it as a registry, but the courts don't.